I get to write sentences such as, "Even though I don't feel pain, I didn't want to give birth to a pile of chicken wings," and do dreadful things with defibrillators.

How do you define artistic success?

I write the books I want to write, and I've found an audience. I'm not stuck in a rut, writing the same sort of thing all the time.

(I've always seen Bruce Coville as a role model. He writes everything.)

I've written horror, humor, real life, science fiction, fantasy, YA novels, chapter books, and short stories. As for success, I can make my living writing. I get lots of positive feedback from kids, teachers, and librarians.

You can always look a couple rungs up the ladder. It's easy to fall into the trap of envying someone who just won a big award or got a movie deal. But I'm sitting in my office in sweat-shorts and a T-shirt, listening to a nice CD and answering questions that will appear on a popular blog.

If I want to take a break and play a video game or go for a walk, there's no boss to tell me what to do. I have eight books scheduled to come out in the next four years. Really, I have no reason and no right to complain or to want more than I have.

What do you love most about being an author? Why?

I love making something out of nothing. I love the infinite possibilities of the unwritten book. Paradoxically, once the path is set, I love paring those possibilities into a story that seems, in the end, both inevitable and surprising. And I love answering interview questions like this one.

How do you reach out to teachers and librarians?

First, I have to extricate myself from their hugs. Having accomplished that, I try to speak at lots of conferences. I'm fortunate to have a publisher that takes me to plenty of national events. I'm also fortunate to be invited to speak at lots of state conferences.

How do you approach the task of connecting your books to young readers?

Nails are far too painful, and even staples draw more blood than I'd like, so I've settled for string or those "Live Strong" yellow wristbands.

How have you come to thrive in such a competitive, unpredictable industry?

By some stroke of luck, my interests mesh pretty well with those of the typical sixth or seventh grader.

So far, what has been the highlight of your professional career? Why?

A couple things come to mind. The New Jersey branch of NCTE gave me the first Muriel Becker Literary Award. She was an amazing woman and an important scholar in the science fiction world. As a Jersey boy, that was especially thrilling.

Speaking of New Jersey, another highlight was being asked by the NJ Educational Media Association to give the keynote at their conference many years ago. I've given tons of talks since then, but this really felt like I was coming home.

How do you define professional success?

Years ago, I told myself, "If I could make my living writing short stories, I'd be happy." I really love stories.

Much to my amazement, I actually make a good part of my living from the Weenies collections. The fourth one, The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies (Starscape, 2009), is already in a third hardcover printing.

Everyone in the industry will tell you that stories don't sell, but I seem to have found an exception to that rule and a loyal readership.In your own words, could you tell us about your latest book?

My Rotten Life (Starscape, 2009) tells how Nathan Abercrombie becomes a zombie after getting splashed with an experimental formula. Throughout the first book, he and his friends attempt to find a cure.

If I may boast a tiny bit, I have to say that the book has the finest ending I've ever written.

What can your fans look forward to next?

Book two, Dead Guy Spy comes out in January. And, after several more books in this series, I'll be working on a fifth story collection. Also, with luck, some awesome blogger will ask me for another interview. A guy can only hope....

Seven Characteristics You Need to Get Published by Carolyn Kaufman from QueryTracker.net. Peek: "The first thing every real writer needs is a willingness to learn and grow. All agents or editors—no matter how busy—are interested in quality work."

2009 Cybils Widget is now available from JacketFlap. Show your support by adding it to your blog!

Balancing Acts by Kelly Bingham from Through the Tollbooth. Peek: "How do you take all those reams of writing advice, all the lessons you have gleaned from novels and books on craft, and make them balance out? Because haven't you heard pieces of advice that contrast with one another? Who is right? Who is wrong?"

Top 10 Myths About E-Books from Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent. Peek: "...because e-books are (usually) much cheaper than print books, it doesn't take long before an e-reader pays for itself - since most hardcovers that sell for $25 or more are available for $9.99, all it takes is roughly 20 e-books for an e-reader to pay for itself."

Unlocking Your Potential by Kristi Holl from Writer's First Aid. Peek: "Some of my most brilliant students gave up after a rejection or two and never were published. But I have books on my shelf from medium-talented students who refused to give up on their dreams–books published by large New York publishers."

Attention Central Texans: children's author Dianna Hutts Aston will be reading and signing in the Buda (TX) Public Library in conjunction with Budafest at 1 p.m. Dec. 5.The Importance of White Space by R.L. LaFevers from Shrinking Violet Promotions. Peek: "White space could be wielded as effectively as the most brilliant prose, and to equally devastating effect. What you leave out is as important as what you leave in."Altitude and Attitude by Susan Uhlig from Kidlit Central. Peek: "As an adult we think it is funny or cute when kids do certain things. Unless they are trying to be funny, often what they are doing is very serious business."

Writing While White by Justine Larbalestier. Peek: "What we all have to remember when we write about people—any people—is that the risks of reinforcing stereotypes and thus hurting people is very high. So the onus is on us to do the very best job we can. We also have to remember that even when we do a wonderful job, even if we are a member of the group we’re representing, there are still people who will be offended."

Wasted by Brian Yansky from Brian's Blog: Writer Talk. Peek: "Here I’m referring to the idea that every manuscript does not become a published book even from writers who have published books and even from famous writers who have published books."

Choose Cybils Books for the Holidays from Jen Robinson's Book Page. Peek: "I've always felt that one of the biggest benefits that comes out of the Cybils process is these categorized lists of nominees and finalists. I hope that if any of you are planning to buy children's or young adult books for the holidays, you'll take advantage of this resource."

Cynsational Screening Room

In the video below, "Author Mary Amato demonstrates how she wrote Invisible Lines (Egmont, 2009), her new novel for ages 10 and up."

But here's the trick: I believed that I was retrieving the stories from the bathroom's built-in laundry hamper.

Since people were always throwing their dirty clothes into it, there was a continuous supply of stories, which somehow rubbed off them and onto their clothes. All I had to do was open a little window in my mind and the stories would fly in.

It was my way of bringing forth, every day, a miniature drama or narrative--I wasn't "creating" them, I was "finding" them.

I also discovered that I could deliver a beginning and a middle, but if the end was elusive, it was okay to stop midstream with a promise that we'd find out the ending tomorrow. And the next day I'd sit again on the lid of the toilet, focus on the laundry hamper, and "receive" stories through the little window in my mind, while my small sister sat in the cooling water, sucking her washcloth, waiting.

I know this is odd. It was about creating diversions, ways of tricking myself, so as to avoid the difficult task of "making up" stories--even though that's exactly what I was doing.

When, as a grownup in the early 1990's, my sister casually recounted our old bathtub-stories family saga to the editor of my picture books, he turned to me and said, "Go write that. It's a book--a novel, not a picture book."

I was filled with equal parts joy (he thinks I can actually write a novel!) and fear (how the hell does one write a novel?).

So I tricked myself into doing it by setting down the story as if it were an oral tale, like my picture books--as if it came from the folk tradition and I was just doing a "modern retelling" of stuff I "knew."

What I'm saying is, if I were to poise my fingers expectantly over the keyboard every day saying, "now I'm going to write a cohesive, exciting, original, relevant, wonderfully-realized novel," I'd crack open and die, like a rock committing suicide. Instead, I fool around--in a very serious way--pretending that this isn't the important part and I'll just jot down one little scene for now and get to the hard part later.

And if I pay really close attention to what I already "know" about the characters--what I've already written, about how the crabby neighbor always hesitates a second and licks her baby finger before turning a certain corner, for instance--I have to trust that I had some reason for envisioning that, and now my job is to tease it out, to peel off the layers to find out why she licks her finger and how that relates to her crabbiness, because of course it must. I just open the little window in my mind, and it all comes wafting in.

How have you come to thrive in such a competitive, unpredictable industry?

If I have thriven (and thank you for the rare opportunity to use that form of the verb), it's mostly due to respecting the intelligence and sensitivities of readers. This means trying to write a story in which some form of truth (something I need fairly urgently to express) is revealed—not directly, but through the fiction itself. A kind of truth, in other words, that speaks directly to the heart of the reader, and can be expressed only by means of the story.

Add to that a couple of really lucky breaks.

And finally: watching for opportunities and finding them in events that at first appear to be inopportune. For example, I have had a different editor for each of the three books in the "Lucky's Hard Pan" trilogy.

The editor for my first six books, Richard Jackson, announced his retirement after publishing The Higher Power of Lucky (Simon & Schuster/Atheneum/Richard Jackson, 2006). I was hard at work on Lucky Breaks, which he had acquired.

The prospect of a new, unknown editor was daunting: I'd known of editors being coerced into taking on projects they hadn't acquired and resenting it; I'd heard about the dire fate of many orphaned books, etc.

Plus, there was significant fear in writing a sequel to a book that had just won a major award; this was by far the most difficult book I'd ever undertaken, and I was already struggling to stay on the project.

After we had finished our work together on Lucky Breaks and after Ginee acquired the final book of this trilogy, she left Atheneum. My sense of loss and sadness (okay, despair) were mitigated, and I was again hugely fortunate, because I was given the chance to work with another of the great editors of our time, Caitlyn Dlouhy. I'd heard about her formidable editorial talents for years from my friend Cynthia Kadohata.

Caitlyn and I are now working fruitfully and happily on the concluding title in the "Lucky's Hard Pan" trilogy.

Three different editors, each with a distinct style and process, working on three closely related books. I believe that each editor wanted what was best for the book, and I hold them all in highest regard. What could have been seen as difficult and conflicting was for me an opportunity. I guess it's about faith and trust. And 'tude.

Of course I'm aware that the question may refer to a more practical type of action, such as maintaining an online presence and having a Facebook page for your main character. And while these are useful, I resist the temptation to give them tremendous weight, which would invite a correlation between successes and failures and some form of pajama marketing.

Better, I think, to look at craft, to remember that what editors, agents, librarians, book retailers, and readers want is a memorable story.

In your own words, could you tell us about your latest book?

This final book in the trilogy [tentatively titled "Lucky for Good"] brings Lucky face to face with an excruciating moral dilemma involving Miles and his mother, Justine, who returns to Hard Pan. Lucky also gets into serious trouble for starting a fight with an older boy, discovers a strange relative called "Stick," and says the hardest goodbye of her life. Meanwhile, Hard Pan residents join together into an unlikely army, declaring war against the closure, by the County Health Department, of Brigitte's Hard Pan Café.

In facing deep questions of belief and faith, truth and meaning, this concluding book continues to explore the vast, rocky landscape of the human heart. As always, Lucky is brave and foolish, impulsive and tender, vulnerable and determined. Ultimately she forges her own path: Lucky for good.

In the video below, check out a "Chidren's Book Trailer for middle grade novel Lucky Breaks, a sequel to Newbery winner, The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron."

She lives in Austin with Patsy Clementine, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who specializes in snoring, and Edina the Cat, a.k.a. Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger.

What is the Writers' League of Texas? What is its mission?

The Writers' League of Texas is a nonprofit professional association that supports writers of all kinds at any stage of their career. The League's mission is to elevate the art of writing and promote literacy.

What can you tell us about the membership? What professional interests are represented? From where do folks hail?

The WLT has around 1,300 members; about half of them are in the Austin/Central Texas area. The other half are spread out all over Texas and even in other states. Most members are writers, although we do have some publishers, editors, and even publicists in our membership.

We cover the gamut of writers. Some want to write just for themselves and their families; others have had multiple books published. Our membership includes authors, journalists, business writers, historians, poets, essayists, bloggers, children's-YA writers, graphic novelists--you name it, we probably have someone who writes it!

With the caveat that of course you can't mention everyone, who are just a few of the League's living legends, grand dudes and ladies, established pros, rising stars, and new hot things?

Welcoming and open and professional, although also somewhat disparate, because of the geographical sprawl of our membership! But we're working on that through some online initiatives and groups.

Readers seeking the complete low-down on the League's programs and events can check out the website. But could you highlight for us which are most popular with members and why?

The biggie is the annual Writers' League of Texas Agents Conference, which takes place in June. We bring in around 20-25 literary agents from New York and elsewhere, along with editors from various publishing houses, to meet with aspiring authors and give them the opportunity to pitch their books and learn about the latest trends in the publishing industry.

Many Cynsations readers are children's/YA writers. What does the League offer specifically to them?

We offer classes and workshops on the craft of writing and the business of publishing (such as how to write a query letter or synopsis and how to get started in social media and publicity), along with the opportunity to meet agents and editors who specialize in children's-YA literature.

How did the League come to be? Could you tell us about its history and growth over the years?

The League was founded in 1981 as the Austin Writers' League to provide a community for writers in the Austin area. Over time, the organization grew and expanded. Then in around 2000 the League changed its name to the Writers' League of Texas with the goal of being more statewide in scope.

What do you love about the job? What are its challenges?

What I love about my job is dreaming up new ideas for programs and events that can better serve our members along with writers who've never heard of the Writers' League! And from a purely selfish view, I just love being immersed in the world of books and writers and doing everything I can to promote Texas writers.

What advice do you have for event planners in undertaking a conference of similar scope?

Lots of Happy Camper herbal pills?!

No, seriously, it's all about three things: (1) developing a dynamic program with the top speakers you can land; (2) clear, concise, and frequent communication with everyone -- hotel staff, agents, editors, attendees, sponsors, staff, volunteers; and (3) extending Texas hospitality to everyone and treating them like rock stars!

What new horizons do you foresee for the League in the future?

Expansion comes immediately to mind. We're working to expand programming to other cities so we can help our members connect with one another in both social and professional settings.

We're also developing online programming and benefits and constantly upgrading our programs and events to take the Writers' League to its next level.

Outside of your role as WLT executive director, what do you do in life?

I'm honored that the cover story for Eternal (Candlewick, 2009) is featured today at Melissa Walker's blog. Peek: "I couldn't figure out how the designers would incorporate two similarly laid-out profiles, unless one was on the front and one on the back, but then, how would they pick which would go where?"

About

New York Times & Publishers Weekly best-selling, award-winning author the Tantalize series, the Feral series and other critically acclaimed fiction for young readers. MFA Faculty, Vermont College of Fine Arts. Board member, We Need Diverse Books. Ohonvyetv!